How to Slice a Mushroom

The other day I was preparing some pasta with mushrooms and peas for a friend. With two pounds of old fashioned white mushrooms to slice, I realized that my slices were uneven and slow. Though many of you may never have thought about slicing mushrooms and whether or not you’re doing it efficiently, Grubgirl does obsess about things like this. I did some research and came up with some tips on how to more efficiently slice a mushroom.

Egg slicer — For any of you that happen to have a hard boiled egg slicer gathering dust in your drawer, you can place a mushroom in there and slice the whole thing at once!

1. Mushroom stalks — several sites recommended that I not yank off the whole stem, but just cut off the dried-up end part. How much to cut off varies, though, as you’ll see in the video below. The more of the stalk you cut off, the sturdier will be your base when you begin slicing.

2. Halve the mushroom – If you’ve cut most of the stalk off, as in the video, you can place the mushroom stalk-side down and slice it in half. If you’ve left some more stalk, which would make resting the mushroom on the stalk precarious,
lie the mushroom on its side and slice it half through the stalk. (All caveats apply, of course, if you’re clueless with a knife. I’m not forcing you to do this, reader beware, etc. etc.)

3. Slice up one of the halves — I’ve always sliced the mushroom in the same direction as the “halve”, which can make for very long slices depending on the side of the mushroom head. As you see in the video, it seems more stable to rotate the mushroom half so that the halved side is facing you, so you are slicing the mushroom 90 degrees from the “halve.” You get more slices, and they seem to be more normal, pizza-topping-sized. (Note, I do NOT chop any food as fast as the chef in the video.)

Comments

Why dont you just use pre-sliced mushrooms. They come fresh or canned. If you want a really fast way to cut them and get them even thinner you can use a Mandolin Slicer. Just be careful not to cut your knuckles off!

Because pre-sliced mushrooms are more expensive than doing it yourself, and they’ve had more chance to oxidize a little more. Buying any vegetables that include packaging or something already done for you (ie peeled carrots, sliced carrots, sliced mushrooms), etc., is always always more than doing it yourself. For those that choose to grub, we keep it real.